A Meredith and Arizona Story
by Agamemnon1989
Summary: A Meredith Grey and Arizona Robbin's story after the events of season 16 ep.16. Mainly follows Meredith's journey of falling in love again. Settle down because this is going to be a pretty long and slow. (Sorry if this story doesn't follow parts of the canon story line since I might change up some things in the future)
1. Chapter 1

Meredith is alone. Literally alone.

Sitting at the same spot at Joe's bar, she toyed with the empty shot glasses in front of her. Tonight, she needed it, she needed to numb the aching feeling of loneliness brewing inside of her, because once again, she was left behind by a loved one.

"Bad day?" The voice behind her asked. Sceptically, Meredith looked up and for a second, the wrenching feeling in her heart went away.

"Robbins? You're back, here. What are you doing here, I thought you were in New York?" Meredith asked as she sloppily pulled herself up from her seat towards her ex-colleague? Acquaintance? Plane crash buddy?

Arizona catching the stumbling woman in front of her said "wow, careful Grey," as she sat Meredith back onto her seat. "Well to answer your questions, I might actually be back. Herman and I are trying to expand nationally. But don't tell anyone though since it's still a work in progress."

Meredith in a moment of weakness embraced the blonde in front of her, "Arizona, you have no idea how much I needed to hear that tonight, thank you." Letting go of the blonde, she pushed the tequila shots towards Arizona and said, "and yes, today has been rough. You've heard about Alex right?"

Arizona deciding to just let go tonight downed her first shot before reaching over for another, "Grey…"

"Come on Robbins, call me Meredith, we've known each other for what, over a decade?"

"Okay well in that case, you should be calling me Arizona" she replied. "And yes, I got Alex's letter a few days ago. I mean wow, I still can't believe that Alex is now with Izzie and is a dad to twins?"

Meredith ordering another round of shots ended up handing Joe her card and asking him to just leave the bottle since she will need to cope tonight. "Yea I can't believe it either. On one hand I understand why he left because of his whole growing up without love situation. But I'm sad Arizona, and I'm pissed. I'm sad and I'm pissed and I'm…I'm…"

"Meredith." Reaching over, Arizona gave her hands a gentle squeeze for support.

"I'm sorry. What I'm trying to say is, I feel like everyone is abandoning and leaving me behind. First it was George and Christina, and then Derek, Callie, you and now Alex. He said that I've always been my own person and while I agree that I can survive on my own, it took me years of therapy to realise that I don't' want to be alone. Arizona, I miss having someone to go home to, to confide to. Christina had always been my person, but then she left for Switzerland, but it was fine since I still had Derek until he left me for DC and he…he…" taking another shot, Meredith continued, "he… died. So Alex became my person. He looked out for me and I looked out for him, but now, just like the rest, he left me behind. Arizona, you left me too, I don't have anyone to hide in supply closets with anymore." Meredith rambled, feeling the alcohol in her blood stream.

"I'm sorry Meredith, but I had to, you have to understand that I had to leave. After the plane crash, I also felt the same aching feeling of being left behind. I lost Mark, then I lost Callie and for a second I had Eliza. I was so hesitant to try and love again but she showed me that we can actually be something more, that we could be an 'us'. But then one day, she just ghosted me, she literally just left without calling, no note, no message, I wasn't even worthy of a goodbye. So when Nicole proposed the idea of starting our own Centre for Women's Health, I felt like that was my chance of having people again. Callie was there and Sophia missed New York, I seemingly had nothing here so why not." Arizona sighed, fidgeting with Meredith's fingers.

"So why are you back?" Meredith asked as she focused her attention solely on the blonde in front of her.

"Because New York isn't my home Meredith, Seattle is. At the beginning, it was exciting. I was building my own health centre with an amazing partner, I reconnected with Callie, I was closer to Sophia and…" feeling a bit embarrassed, Arizona continued, "the women in New York were let's just say attractive. But after the initial buzz, I started getting irritated by the small things like the weird floral bathroom scents and long queues. Like seriously, I once had to wait two hours to pay for my groceries. But ultimately, I missed everyone in Seattle. All this time I've been focusing on the people I've lost when instead, I should be focusing on the people I have. I have Richard and Miranda, Teddy and you, I even have new people in my life like Andrew. Meredith, what I'm trying to say is we…you are not alone because like you've once said, we are a village. Besides, Alex and Christina didn't leave you behind, just like Callie didn't leave me behind. Sure they might not be here all the time but deep down we know that they will always be here for us." Arizona replied as she reached over for the bottle of tequila and taking a swig. "Look, I know we were never the closest, even when I lived here but when I move back to Seattle, you can come to me if you feel sad again and we can share more bottles of alcohol, preferably white wine."

"I do miss drunk Robbins so I will take you up on that offer," giggled Meredith. "Remember the dinner party at my house? I think you and Kepner cleaned out our wine cabinet!"

"Oh god don't remind me. It was like med school all over again and I do not want do go back to that," snorted Arizona.

"Wait, you were at Hopkins with Amelia right? She mentioned that you guys were in the same residency programme. How was she, were you guy close?" asked Meredith as she takes another swig of tequila.

"We weren't the closest since I was a few years older than her but we did erm... hang out on several occasions," replied Arizona with a blush.

"Hang out? Did… did you have sex with Amelia?" Meredith asked.

"Oh no, not with your sister, I did 'date' her roommate for a while though, the morning afters were always awkward. I'm just glad that she never brought it up before. But seriously though Meredith, even if I did, would you really want to know?" Arizona replied cheerfully fidgeting with the empty glasses on the bar table.

Before Meredith could reply, Joe informed the ladies that the bar is closing for the night and that he hailed a cab for them.

"So, want to go back to my hotel?" Asked Arizona who stumbled into the cab and muttered her address towards the driver, "I mean it's late, like really late and I'm drunk and you're drunk so yea, come and stay for the night?"

"That'd be great actually, thanks." Replied Meredith with a smile as she sat next to the blonde, feeling better than she did earlier.


	2. Chapter 2

Meredith was woken up by a sharp, pounding pain in her head.

"Great, a perfect way to start my day." She groaned.

When her eyes fluttered open, a beam of blinding sunlight shot straight into her pupils, causing her to immediately shut her eye lids close again to block out the headache-inducing problem.

Normally, Meredith would welcome the idea of waking up to a beautifully warm sunny morning, but after the amount of tequila she consumed… more like devoured last night…let's just say that Meredith would've preferred a room with less lighting.

Shifting around in the cotton sheets, Meredith felt every single aching sensation in her joints. She also felt sluggish and exhausted, but worst of all was the unfavourable tang of acidity reeking from her mouth. Slowly she lifted her body up from the welcoming sensation of the soft mattress. It was then that Meredith felt a heart-chilling breeze of wind against her flushed bare skin.

Shit…SHIT

Shooting off the bed, before she could search for her clothes, an unpleasant sensation of nausea immediately hit her, prompting her to rush off into the bathroom to empty her stomach content. How's it even possible for her to puke up an empty stomach.

Leaning against the toilet bowl, her mind quickly skittered through the patches of memories from last night. She remembered being alone at the bar, then Arizona showing up, them drinking together, more drinking, talking about Alex, New York, Amelia? taking a cab to a hotel, giggling and dancing and…nothing…it was blank. That was all she could remember.

And it doesn't matter anyways, because she woke up, alone, in an empty hotel room. And now, she's hugging a toilet bowl without Alex there to hold her hair back. What did she expect.

Yet, she couldn't help but feel the familiar sense of disappointment.

* * *

After she managed to somewhat clean herself up, she started surveying the blonde's hotel room.

Judging from the modest size of the room, Arizona was obviously doing well, like really, really well. Guess that's one of the many perks of being in one of the most exclusive specialties.

Walking around, Meredith noticed the tidiness of the blonde's possessions. From the neat arrangement of lotions to the colour coded wardrobe. Even the tchotchkes on the coffee table were arranged according to their sizes. It's as if everything had a place of its own.

Except for an oddly placed pink note on the end table.

Picking up the message, a smile inexorably formed on Meredith's face.

_Dear Meredith,_

_Knowing you, you're probably panicking right now since I'm nowhere to be found, but don't worry, I'm at a meeting right now. _

_You're probably also wondering why your clothes are nowhere to be found, nothing of that sorts happened between us. You spilled a drink on your shirt yesterday so I had them sent to the washer. Just borrow one of my outfits from my wardrobe, you can return it to me later. _

_XOXO, Arizona _

Of course Arizona would be the kind of person to leave notes with smiley and frowny faces.

After Meredith put on a random outfit from Arizona's wardrobe, she scribbled down a quick reply on Arizona's note and took a cab home.

* * *

The moment Meredith stepped into her house, Maggie launched herself towards the front door.

"Where were you Meredith? We were worried sick about you! We called the hospital, our friends and nobody knew where you were. Please don't just up and leave without an explanation ever again okay, and please return your texts, I know you don't like texting but deal with it, that's how people communicate in the twenty first century."

Amelia, hearing the commotion at the hallway, barks from the kitchen, "Maggie, let her settle down fist before you bombard her with your questions."

"Yes Maggie, I'm tired, and hungover and somehow hungry, so if you'll please excuse me," Meredith says as she pushed past Maggie and heads towards the kitchen to reheat yesterday's leftovers.

Maggie, settling down at the counter next to Amelia, made sure to wait until Meredith finished setting the timer in the oven before resuming her line of questioning. The last time Maggie distracted her in the kitchen, Meredith somehow managed to set the kitchen on fire, twice, once while she was warming formula milk for Ellis and the other while she was making Caesar salad. Don't ask.

"So…Meredith, how are you feeling?" Maggie asked in trepidation. She had overheard about the whole Alex situation from Jo and Lincoln's conversation.

Amelia, unaware of the situation shot Maggie a questioning look.

"Maggie, I'm fine. Really. And for your knowledge, I went out for a drink yesterday because I have the day off today and bumped into an old acquaintance." Meredith, taking some ibuprofen out of the medicine drawer added, "besides, it was late and I was drunk so I stayed over at her place instead of coming back and waking up the kids in the middle of the night."

Amelia, still unaware of what's going on shot Maggie another confused look and mouthed 'what happened?' towards her. Maggie only shook her head and nudged her mug towards Meredith's direction with a 'you ask her' reply.

Meredith, noticing their 'subtle' conversation bluntly stated, "Alex left for Izzie and isn't coming back."

"Wai wha–" before Amelia could finish her sentence, Meredith had already taken her 'lunch' to the dinner table and occupied herself with the latest research on AI-assisted Pancreaticoduodenectomy.

Sensing an end to their discussion, they both gave Meredith a reassuring pat on the shoulder and left her alone in the dining room.

* * *

When Arizona got back from her meeting, she noticed a note on the console table.

Picking it up, a smile, similar to Meredith's inexorably formed on her face.


	3. Chapter 3

Today, Meredith's shift started off beautifully with her scheduled surgical procedure, a transhiatal oesophagostomy on Taylor; an oesophageal cancer patient, a wife and a mother of two. The surgery was the light at the end of a long and dark tunnel for Taylor and her family.

And the surgery went well. Meredith successfully removed the oesophagus plus the rest of the malignant tissues and had sent Taylor back to her room to her anxious family.

Everything was great.

Until it all went south when Taylor suddenly showed signs of tachycardia. And despite their best efforts, the day ended with her husband and children grieving for her in the morgue.

As Meredith scrubbed out of the operating room, she briskly dodged all the sorrowful looks from her fellow doctors and nurses and went straight into her office. After she changed out of her scrubs, Meredith scattered all of Taylor's scans and status reports across her table, comparing and contrasting every detail from the notes in front of her to her previous successful case files, looking for any peculiarities.

When nothing came up, all Meredith could do now was to wait anxiously for Taylor's autopsy report.

Normally, if one of her patients dies, Meredith would go over to Alex's place and she would start off by talking about her patient. The one sided conversation would then progress into a long rant about how flawed the human body is and how people theoretically shouldn't have to suffer such pains. But in moments of vulnerability, Meredith would curl up in Alex's bed and cry.

Alex would then grab a bottle of Casamigos from the tequila cupboard he specifically reserved for his person and comfort her in his arms for the rest of the night.

But now that Alex is gone, she decided to try out the Doughnut place Arizona recommended.

And so she 'asks' an intern whose name she couldn't remember to go take a bus downtown to fetch her a box of chocolate-covered doughnuts.

After around an hour or so, she walked towards the attending's lounge counter to pick up her box of goodies. What she didn't expect to see though was a figure curled up on the couch, quietly sobbing.

Habitually Meredith quickly walked away as quickly and quietly as possible. But something inside of her had stopped her, and a voice in the back of her mind that peculiarly resembled Arizona's, dragged her towards the couch.

Awkwardly, Meredith walked up to the woman.

"Mind if I sit?" she asked softly.

"Um, sure," Jo replies as she quickly wipes away her tears. "I'm sure I look ridiculous right now, but it's just been really tough these past few days."

Meredith, sitting down next to Jo gives her a comforting smile, "don't worry we've all been there. Do you want to talk about it?"

Jo hesitantly, looked up at Meredith and mumbled quietly. "Alex, he…he left me."

Meredith looking back at the other woman said, "listen, I know we've never been close but if you ever want to talk to me about it, I'm here."

"It's just..." Jo, sitting up from her curled up position began slowly, "I thought we were something, I thought that we were actually going to make it you know? We went through so much but in the end, we finally made it through, together. We got a place together, we got married, we even talked about having a baby in the future…But it turns out he…he already has kids, twins in fact. He already has a family and in Kansas of all places…"

Meredith, noticing the tears in the other woman's eyes handed her a piece of tissue.

Taking the tissue, Jo continued her rant, "Meredith, he couldn't even tell me in person. Me, the person he made vows to, twice, wasn't even worthy of being told the truth in person. And it's not like he didn't have the opportunity to tell me, we live…lived together for fuck sakes, we had dinner, watched TV, shared the same bed… and yet, he told me that he's picking Izzie over me through a fucking letter."

Meredith, unsure of how to properly respond asked, "do you want a doughnut?" as she tilted the box of chocolate-covered goodies towards Jo's direction.

"What?" Jo asked, confused.

"Whenever I'm sad, I would typically go straight to a bottle of tequila. But Arizona…Dr. Robbins recently suggested that I should try out doughnuts from this small bakery downtown instead. So, do you want one, it's really good." Meredith explained as she handed one to Jo with a napkin.

Jo chuckled and accepted the blondes offer with a quiet "thanks". After taking a bite of the delicious dessert, she mumbles, "You know I've actually been doing quite well for the past few days, I'm not over working myself, I'm eating properly, exercising, hanging out with Link, I haven't even cried since I initially read the letter. But after one of the nurses called me Dr. Wilson today, I just… I just broke down." She takes another bite of the sugary dessert to wash out the bitter taste in her mouth.

Meredith nodded in return and scooted closer towards Jo, and together, they sat in solidarity and finished off the rest of the chocolate desserts.

"Thanks for listening to me today Meredith, and thanks for the doughnuts, they actually helped a lot." Jo said in a less sombre tone than earlier.

"And thank you too. You actually helped me take my mind off something as well. Just come to me if you need to rant again, you'll know where to find me." Meredith replied. Before she left the attending's lounge, she gave Jo a small hug.

* * *

Before Arizona went to bed, she received a phone call from Meredith which prompted a glimmer of glee inside the blonde heart.

"Hey Meredith, what's up?"

_"I know it's late over there but do you have a minute to talk? I have so much to tell you about."_

"Yea sure." Arizona replied, eager to listen to Meredith's voice. These nightly calls had slowly become a part of her routine.

_"So, my day started off..."_


	4. Chapter 4

On the other side of the country, Arizona was woken up by her maddening alarm clock forcing her awake at five in the morning. Being one of the founders of a women's health centre with a partner as brilliant as Nicole Herman definitely has its up and downs. Stirring around in her bed, Arizona noticed the blonde woman lying asleep next to her that she had completely forgotten about. Sighing to herself, she gently tapped the woman's shoulder to wake her up. She needed to leave and she didn't trust her one night stand with her apartment.

"Hey…Katherine? Listen, I had a really good time last night but you need to go… now. I'm sorry." Arizona said in the nicest tone she could muster out despite the lack of caffeine in her system.

The woman, looking up at Arizona, hurt, awkwardly got up and started putting on the clothes scattered across the bedroom floor. "You know, I thought that you would be different from the others. Turns out I'm wrong."

Right before she left the bedroom, the woman turned around and sighed, "Oh by the way, my name is Karen not Katherine."

Arizona sensing the shameful feeling that's brewing inside of her head started her morning hygiene routine in the bathroom to suppress yesterday's memories.

After she was done with that, she went to her kitchen to brew herself a much needed cup of coffee. First, she routinely filled her kettle with water. While she waited for the water to boil, Arizona walked over to her French press and picked up the bag of empty coffee beans next to it. Wait… empty? Groaning internally, Arizona reached up and looked through her cupboards for a new bag only to be disappointed by her empty shelves. Of course Arizona's habit of pushing back her shopping days would come back and bite her ass… again.

Pushing herself out of her apartment, she walked over to the nearest coffee shop to buy herself a much needed cup of Joe only to be greeted by a waiting line that stretched out of the shop, because of course everyone wanted coffee in the morning.

After around a thirty minutes long waiting time, Arizona _finally_ got her cup of over sugared coffee and a disgusting pumpkin scone because the shop sold out on pastries it was either that or overpriced sandwiches. At this point, she was pretty much done with her day. But, the day wasn't done with her because, as soon as Arizona started driving to work, she was greeted by the most infuriating sight on earth, New York traffic. At this point, Arizona's definitely going to be late for work, so she sent Nicole a short text stating her reasoning. Besides from that, Arizona snapped a photo of the New York traffic and sent it to Meredith with a single sad emoji.

* * *

Finally, after being stuck in traffic for an hour, an exhausted Arizona walked up to her office and changed into her scrubs. Everything started to better because she was now at work with a passionate group of resident eager to learn the minimally invasive surgical technique using small incisions, fetoscopy and sonography on foetuses with myelomeningocele at 23 weeks of gestation.

Standing in front of her patient, Arizona asked her residents, "explain to me what myelomeningocele is?"

Picking the hand in the back, Dr. Miller replied, "myelomeningocele is the condition in which the vertebral column and meninges around the spinal cord do not join together and close completely leading to the protrusion of the spinal cord through the opening."

Following up with her question, Arizona asked, "and what are the benefits of performing a prenatal repair as opposed to a postnatal repair?"

Dr. Miller quickly replied before anyone else could, "a prenatal repair reduces the need for a VP shunt placement and reduces the rate of hindbrain herniation at twelve month of age."

"And what are the benefits of not performing an open in-utero repair?" Arizona asked.

Before Dr. Miller could answer this time, Dr. Davis replied, "open in-utero repair is associated with higher rates of preterm birth, oligohydramnios, placental abruption, pulmonary oedema, maternal transfusion at delivery, and risk of uterine thinning or dehiscence."

Arizona, impressed with the answers of her residents nodded in acknowledgement and started explaining the procedure step by step.

* * *

After the procedure, Arizona changed out of her scrubs and went to Herman's office and was greeted by the welcoming sight of a slice of white pizza.

Sitting down next to her partner, Arizona started eating her lunch as she checked her messages, a few from her friends, past hook-ups asking for a second date, a text from Callie reminding her of their dinner tonight, but out of all the messages, the one that stood out was Meredith's text with a photo of the road with no traffic jam followed by smiley face emoji and a 'more reason for you to come back' message.

Herman, noticing the glaring smile on her friend's face joked, "is that your little girlfriend from Seattle again?"

"No, Meredith… Meredith is not my girlfriend, she's not, she's… she's just a friend." Arizona replied, flushed red.

Herman chuckling at her friend's embarrassment said, "at least she's better than all the trollops you sleep with. Don't worry, she has my approval."

"Wha…. again, we're not dating, she's a friend, and Trollops?" Arizona said, even more flushed than before.

"Oh Robbins, don't be shy with me. You're dirty, you're a dirty girl, own up to it!" Herman said, extremely amused by this conversation.

Arizona, done with this conversation attempted to divert it into a different direction. "So, about the expansion, I talked with the Seattle Presbyterian Hospital and we have a meeting this Thursday to discuss make final adjustments to the contract. I'll be flying to Seattle on Tuesday."

"To see your girlfriend?" Herman suggestively asked.

"No… Nicole, I'm going for the meeting and again she's not my girlfriend, she's my… this is going nowhere. Anyways, can you just cover my class before Dr. Russell flies in?" Arizona asked, finishing the last bite of her lunch.

"Sure. I just hope that the Russell guy is actually as good as Addison said he is. Oh and it's almost three now so you have a class in ten minutes." Herman said typing in her new schedule into her tablet.

"Oh my god, thanks for the reminder, and I owe you." Arizona said before she rushed out of Herman's office to her destination.

* * *

After a long day at work, by the time she arrived at Callie's apartment, it was already eleven at night. Arizona quietly goes over to Sofia's bed and for a moment, she just sits next to her watches her sleep peacefully. These are moments in her life where Arizona considers giving up medicine, to just watch her daughter grow. But deep down, Arizona knows that medicine just means too much to her. Noticing Callie at the doorway, she gently kisses her daughter's forehead and leaves the room.

"Remember when she was still a toddler? She was so small and chubby and cute with her tiny pink hat." Callie reminisces.

Arizona smiling, replies, "and remember the first time she stumbled her way into our bed in the middle of the night? I can't believe she's so grown up already."

As they settled down at the dining table, Callie handed Arizona a plate of Arroz con pollo she saved up from dinner for her.

"Callie, I'm so sorry for being late, I was stuck at work arranging the time schedule since I'll be flying to Seattle next Tuesday." Arizona said as she dug into her dinner.

"Arizona are you really going back to Seattle?" Callie asked as she reached over for Arizona's hand, "what we have here is good, we live close to each other, Sofia has her two moms, Arizona, stay please, New York can be your home."

"You know I can't. As much as I love spending time with Sofia here, I miss Seattle, so much, I miss the weather, the people, that weird diner near my old place. And every day when I wake up, instead of embracing my new life here, I just keep on noticing the things that are missing here. I don't feel like I'm home because New York is not my home." Arizona replies with a solemn look.

"But… what about us, we can try again. I promise you, it took me a while to come to love New York, and just like me, you'll come to love it. I'll be here with you." Callie said in desperation.

"Callie, the last time we got back together, Sofia asked me why we were arguing all the time. I love you Calliope, and I will always love you, but we're in different places in life." Arizona said. "And I know you're worried about Sofia but don't worry, her home is now in New York. I love her and I will desperately miss her, but it just isn't fair for me to uproot her again. Just, promise me that I will get my daily FaceTime calls with her and I get a week every two month when I fly to New York to visit."

Callie tearing up replied, "I will miss you Arizona, and I love you too."

After Arizona finishes her dinner, she gives Callie a hug before she leaves to head back to her apartment.


	5. Chapter 5

Pulling the door open, Meredith greeted Arizona with a hug and helped her with her luggage. "Jesus Arizona, how much did you pack? I thought that you're only staying for three days," Meredith said teasing the blonde.

"You know I like to be prepared for my trips, you never know when you'll need an extra shirt." Arizona said defending herself. "And thanks for letting me stay here, you didn't have to do that."

"Hey, I'm glad that you're staying here, I haven't seen you in a while, I missed you." Meredith said as she set the blonde's luggage in the guest room. "Besides I have an ulterior motive, I miss your delicious cooking. Maggie has been working night shifts and both Amelia and I can't cook, so we've practically been living off Chinese food for the whole week, and I hate Chinese food."

"How about I make us dinner tonight, do you like Pasta Puttanesca?" Arizona asked as they walked towards the living room.

"Arizona, I love your pasta dishes, but I don't think we have anything in the fridge that you can actually use to cook with. So, let's just order a pizza and chill tonight, you can cook for me tomorrow. Besides, it's quite late and I bet you're exhausted from your flight." Meredith replied as she pulled the blonde onto the couch with her.

After they've settled down, Meredith pulled out her laptop and shuffled through Netflix.

"So, what are we watching?" Arizona asked, snuggling into Meredith's side.

"I don't know, how about you pick something out and I'll order our pizza." Meredith said, handing the laptop over.

Taking the laptop, Arizona went directly to the thriller section which surprised the general surgeon.

"Seriously, the Arizona Robbins, who wears a pink scrub cap with animal patches on her doctor's coat is picking a scary movie to watch?" Meredith said in an amused tone as she places her pizza order.

"Listen, I've been busy and whenever I get to just sit down and watch TV, Sofia's there and we'll end up watching Frozen again." Arizona said as she selected 'The Silence of the Lambs'.

Meredith nodding in agreement said, "hmm, you're right, I've watched Frozen so many times, I've actually develop the habit of mouthing the lines."

* * *

At the climax of the movie, just as Buffalo Bill cocks his gun to shoot Clarice, Amelia slammed the front door open, frightening the both of them.

"Hey, the pizza man was here, I paid the guy for you, you're welcome." Amelia shouted as she walked into the living room.

Noticing the intense glare from Meredith, Amelia set down the pizza on the coffee table and asked, "what's wrong, what did I do?"

"You scared us to death Amelia, who the hell slams the door open?" Meredith groaned and paused the movie.

"How am I supposed to know that you were watching something scary? And 'thank you Amelia for helping us pay for our pizza', you're welcome." Amelia replied, plopping herself down onto the couch adjacent to the two women.

Arizona giggling at their interaction went ahead and grabbed a slice of pizza for herself only to be pleasantly surprised by the lack of olives on half of the pie. "How did you know that I didn't like olives?" she asked.

"Well, I remember seeing you pick the olives out of your salad so I just assumed that you don't like them." Meredith answered grabbing a slice for herself and handing one off to Amelia, telling her to 'eat'.

"Thanks, but I had a really long day so I should probably go to sleep before I pass out. And it's good to see you again Robbins." Amelia said, getting up from her seat.

"It's good to see you too, Shepherd." Arizona said, falling back into Meredith's arms and resuming their movie.

* * *

"I don't think I'll be able to sleep tonight." Meredith said as she closes her laptop.

Arizona nodding in agreement said, "me too, maybe watching scary movies before bed is a bad idea after all."

Noticing the silence between them, Meredith asked as she walked towards to wine cabinet, "how about wine and talking?"

"Wine and talking sounds great." Arizona replied. "What do you have?"

"I'm not sure, I have some bottles of white and a few reds, which do you prefer?" Meredith said as she looked through her cabinet.

Standing closely behind Meredith, Arizona instinctively leaned her head against her shoulder and admired the collection, "let's see, you have a bottle of Pinot Grigio, Sauvignon Blanc. Wow, that's a beautiful bottle of Chardonnay, how did you get a bottle from the Domaine LeFlaive winery?"

By this point, Meredith was already flustered from how close the blonde was to her face. "I… I don't even know what that is. I think one of my patient gave it to me a while back? Do you want to open it?"

"Meredith I can't, this bottle itself costs over six thousand dollars, save it for a special occasion with a special someone." Arizona replied.

"No, I insist. Arizona, you are special to me, and we're celebrating the success of your Health Centre." Meredith said, grabbing the bottle of Batard-Montrachet.

Settling down in the living room again, they each filled their wine glasses and wrapped themselves up under a shared blanket.

"How's Sofia doing? I heard she made it into the school football team?" Meredith asked as she snuggled in closer to the blonde.

Taking a sip of wine, Arizona cheerfully replied, "Sofia is doing great and yes she did make it as a midfielder. You should see her on the field last week, she's amazing. Callie was right about her destiny as a football star. Gosh, she was such an active kicker in the womb. How about Zola, Sofia misses her a lot."

"Zola is growing into her teenager phase. God, she's growing up so fast. One second she's begging to climb into bed with me and the next she's asking to stay over at a friend's place. Yesterday, she even told me about a boy in her class, I didn't even know what to say" said Meredith.

Nodding in agreement, Arizona replied, "oh god, Sofia too. I still think that she's my baby."

"Oh, by the way. Sofia is having a lot of fun with the string yarns Callie bought her from the flea market. Look at the Chevron bracelets she made." Pulling up her sleeve, Arizona took one of the bracelets off and wrapped it around Meredith's wrists, "I think it looks pretty on you."

Flushing red again, Meredith thanked the blonde for the bracelet and cuddled the foetal surgeon. They continued their conversation as they finished their wine.

* * *

Walking to the kitchen for a glass of water, Amelia couldn't help but to smile at the two women snuggled up together in the couch.


	6. Chapter 6

They were woken up by a blaring alarm in the morning.

"Oh god." Meredith grumbles drowsily as she sits up from her awkward position.

"It's mine, sorry." Arizona grunts. She breaks away from Meredith's embrace and stretches. "We should've slept in a bed." She smiles at Meredith and puts on her prosthetic leg. "Also, you snore, or wheeze, it's cute."

Meredith, fully awake now blushes at Arizona's comment. She's not a blusher, it's been established that Meredith Grey is not a blusher. But whenever she's with Arizona, her heart tends to beat faster and the vessels in her cheeks tend to dilate.

Replying to Arizona, she said, "I do not snore or wheeze," while she buries herself under the blanket again, she continues, "and next time when we sleep together, we should find a mattress that provides better support."

"Next time?" Arizona asks with flushed cheeks.

Meredith, alert of what she accidentally spewed out, stuttered, "well, I mean… not like that, just…"

"Don't worry, I can't wait to share a bed with you again, you're an amazing cuddler." Arizona teases. Before a stunned Meredith could mutter a proper reply, Arizona had already gone back to her guest room.

'What just happened?' Meredith asks herself and moves into her room with the blanket wrapped around her.

* * *

"So, you and Robbins were cosy yesterday, what's up?" Amelia asks the blonde quietly in the operating room.

"What do you mean?" Maggie asks as she repairs her patient's ruptured aorta.

"Meredith and Robbins were sleeping together last night." Amelia announces, louder than before.

"Oh my god, I noticed that too, are you guys dating?" Maggie cheers. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Announce that to everyone don't you Amelia, now people are going to start gossiping. And no Maggie, I didn't tell you because we're not dating, we just fell asleep on the couch yesterday after a few glasses of wine." Meredith explains, shooting a scowl towards Amelia's direction.

"If you say so…" Amelia mumbles.

"Why are you here anyways, we don't even need neuro?" Meredith asks Amelia as she temporarily secures the haemostasis at the hilum.

"What? I can't watch my badass sisters in action? Besides, I'm hiding from Owen, and Link and Teddy." Amelia replies. "Anyways, why are we suddenly talking about me. Meredith, you still haven't answered my question, what's up with you and Robbins, and when did you get all friendly with each other?"

"I've answered you, there's nothing going on between us, she needed a place to stay so I offered, and we've always been friends, we've known each other for years," said Meredith.

Amelia rebutted, "Meredith, I hate to break it to you but you guys definitely weren't close. You've never even invited her to our small gatherings."

Maggie nodding in agreement said, "I'll have to agree with her Meredith."

"Well we're close now, so why do you care!" Meredith groaned as she divided the lieno renal ligament, "and can we please focus on the patient?"

Maggie, ignoring her sister's temperament said, "of course we care Meredith, we're your sisters. So, if Arizona makes you happy, we're happy for you too."

"She does make me happy, as a friend though, she's a good friend." Meredith stated, hoping that she could convince her sisters to drop the topic.

"Only as a friend?" Amelia teases.

"Yes, friend, we're friends." Meredith sighed while she applies a non-crushing clamp at the hilum.

Amelia, amused by this conversation teases again, "are you sure? Because you guys were cuddling last night."

"You know I like sleeping with people. I slept with you a week ago and I slept with Maggie the week before that!" Meredith replied, feeling her cheeks starting to flush red. Luckily, half of her face was covered by a mask.

Amelia, noticing the redness in Meredith's forehead continues, "yea, you slept on the left side of my bed, while I resided on the right side, there's a physical distance between us. You and Robbins on the other hand were not segregated from each other, she literally nuzzled her face into your neck. The only time I've seen Robbins cuddle someone like that was with my roommate, who if I remember correctly was her girlfriend at the time and with Carina, who's also her ex-girlfriend."

Meredith, biting her lips contemplated what Amelia had just said. Ever since their fateful night at Joe's bar, Meredith had developed an inexplicable sense of fondness for the foetal surgeon. Arizona had quickly become someone important in her life, albeit through phone calls and messages. But, now that the blonde is here and is definitively moving back to Seattle, Meredith couldn't help but to humour the idea of having a relationship that's beyond platonic. However, Meredith is also scared, she's scared of the possibility of letting somebody into her heart again, with the obvious reason being Derek. She had let Derek in, allowed herself to indulge in the love between them, but then he left and took a part of her with him. After Derek, Meredith promised herself never to fall for anyone again. But Nathan came and she started to let go, allowing herself to humour the idea of falling in love. In the end, she was once again left behind. In truth, Meredith knew that if she were to ever be left behind by someone she loved once more, she might not be able to survive it.

Finishing the double ligature on the splenic artery and vein, Meredith couldn't help but ask, "did you actually think that we could be together?"

Maggie replied, "of course, Arizona is totally your type, she's charming, cooks well, smart and successful, she's good with and kids. Now that I think about it, she's a catch. So you guys would be great for each other."

Amelia in agreement said, "you should ask her out though before she starts to fall for someone else. After all, she's the female Sloan."

"What do you mean by female Sloan?" Meredith asked in confusion.

"You know, Sloan as in Mark Sloan. Him and Arizona are practically the same person, they both, as Maggie had said, are charming, cooks well, smart and successful, good with the kids. But they're also great with the ladies. The number of women I've seen Arizona with before she dated Eliza was on par with Mark, and you know Mark." Amelia replied. "I mean if she's as good as Mark is in bed, I definitely would've asked her out."

Completing her division of the splenocolic ligament, Meredith looked up at Amelia. "Seriously?"

Amelia amused by the jealousy in Meredith's eyes revealed "Hey it's not just me, Maggie had a crush on her too."

"I... I don't… Amelia what the hell, that was ages ago!" Maggie said in an exasperated tone. "But she's right though Meredith, if you want to be with Arizona, ask her out before it's too late."

Ignoring her sisters for a second, Meredith finished up the splenectomy and told the resident next to her to close up the patient. Right before she left the operating room, she said, "Arizona and I, we're just friends alright, so just… don't say anything, please."

Amelia standing next to Maggie said, "our sister is stubborn isn't she?"

"Maybe she's just scared." Maggie replied, finishing up on her procedure as well.

* * *

After a long and exhausting day at work, Meredith, Amelia and Maggie settled the kids down before heading into the kitchen to heat up some leftover pizza.

Walking to the dining table, Meredith noticed a small pink note left next to the plate of pasta.

Noticing the smile creeping onto her sisters face, Amelia jokingly asked, "you sure that you're not dating?"

Meredith, ignoring Amelia for a second, picked up her plate of pasta puttanesca and headed up to her room. "Just for saying that, you're not getting any of the pasta, Goodnight."


	7. Chapter 7

"Are you sure that you have everything with you, your passport, ticket, ID? Just check again to be sure." Meredith asks on their way to the airport.

"Yes, I'm sure. You asked me the same exact question five minutes ago." Arizona chuckled. Turning around to fix Ellis' seatbelt, she jokes, "your mom is a bit overcautious, isn't she?"

Meredith pretending to be offended said, "I am not overcautious, I'm just being rational. It's better to be sure that you have everything instead of finding out that you forgot your passport at the airport."

"Meredith, being careful is checking to see if you have everything once or twice. You asked me to check my purse five times in the past 30 minutes. Besides, I know that you're being overly concerned because of your own personal experience. Just because you left your passport at home doesn't mean that I would." Arizona teases.

"I'm never telling you my embarrassing stories ever again," replied Meredith as she digs out a juice pack for Ellis and herself from the centre console. "Just for bringing that story up, you're not getting your favourite Tropical Punch Capri sun."

Arizona grinning at her friend's childishness, reached over and grabbed Meredith's drink for herself, accidentally brushing against Meredith's hand. Flushing red from the interaction, Meredith diverts her focus away from the intimacy of Arizona's touch and asks the foetal surgeon about her meeting with Seattle Press.

Sipping the juice pack, Arizona answered, "it went pretty well, we made some final adjustments with the contract and Herman and I are pretty happy with it."

"Don't mind me asking but why did you guys sign with Seattle Press anyways, why not Grey Sloan? I'm sorry if I've imposed on our friendship, it's just, both Bailey, as in chief Bailey and I had been curious." Meredith curiously asked.

"No, it's okay. Actually, Herman and I had a long discussion about this. Originally, she wanted to collaborate with Grey Sloan since I own some of the hospital's shares and I'm more familiar with the people. Although I really wanted to work with everyone again, I however suggested contracting with Seattle Press instead. Objectively speaking, Seattle Press has a better Maternity care department. Also, they were planning on expanding their maternity department anyways so starting a programme there would be perfect for us. It's actually in the contract, Robbins-Herman will have a clinic specifically dedicated to foetal medicine." Arizona answered eloquently. "Miranda's mad at me isn't she."

Snatching the Capri sun back from the blonde, Meredith replied, "a bit, but she'll get over it. You better invite her out for lunch though the next time you're back, which would be in two months right?"

"Actually, I'm not sure I can. There's still a lot of things on my to-do list which mind you, includes finding a place that's big enough for a roommate and to have a spare room for Sofia when she visits me." Arizona said.

Meredith alarmed asks, "you're getting a roommate?"

"Well not exactly getting a roommate, more so I already have a future roommate. I don't know if you've heard of her, Dr. Neveah Drew? She's another foetal surgeon from our clinic who will be moving to Seattle with me." Arizona answered nonchalantly.

"That sounds fun…" Meredith groaned, feeling a tang of jealousy. It's a weird feeling that brewed inside of her. She knew that Arizona was popular with the ladies, she's beautiful, charming and her smile could brighten anybody's day… those are some of the reasons why Meredith was so drawn to her in the first place. Still, Arizona was just her friend, also, she's Callie's ex, and dating your friend's ex just wasn't right. That's why Meredith couldn't understand the ache that persisted in her heart, she understood the rational reasonings of staying just friends, yet, there's still a glimmer of hope that they might be something more.

Parking her car in the airport parking lot, Meredith walks to the trunk to help the blonde with her luggage.

"Thanks," said Arizona. Walking towards the safety seat, Arizona gently shook Ellis awake and helped her out of the car. Lifting the child up into her arms, she played and joked with Ellis to keep her awake.

Closing the trunk of the car, Meredith sees Arizona giggling with Ellis and for a short moment, she felt like she had a partner again for a short moment. Carrying the luggage, they walked together in soothing silence towards the airport gate.

Waiting for Arizona's check in time, they sat in a café and each ordered a cup of coffee and an apple pie for the both of them to share.

Settling Ellis down onto her lap, Arizona mumbled, "I made a detour to Kansas before my trip to Seattle."

"What?" Meredith asked, shocked at the sudden confession.

"I visited Alex, before I came here." Arizona said while she took a bite of the pie.

Fidgeting with the napkin in her hand, Meredith averted her gaze and quietly asked, "how is he?"

Arizona, noticing the general surgeon's reaction put down her fork and instinctively held onto Meredith's hands. "He's doing really well, he's an amazing father and chief of paediatrics at Shawnee Memorial. Yet he's still the fun and goofy, 'tell us jokes during a serious meeting' Alex that we all know."

"How about his kids, how are they?" Meredith looked up and asked.

"His kids are also carbon copies of him, Alexis is jumpy and hyper in a good way while Eli is cheeky and foul mouthed. The moment I walked through the doorway, they dragged me all over the house. First, they showed me the chalk wall in their bedroom filled with colourful doodles, then they played me songs with the guitars that Alex bought them and finally we went to feed the chickens. They have chickens Meredith, chickens." Arizona said with a smile on her face.

"How about..." Meredith asked again, eager to learn more about Alex's new life.

"Why don't you write him a letter and ask him yourself? He misses you, a lot." Arizona said as she gave Meredith's hand a reassuring squeeze.

Holding onto the blonde's hands, Meredith replied with a hesitant nod and they finished their apple pie.

* * *

Standing at the gateway, just when they were supposed to part, Ellis stubbornly held onto Arizona's hand and refused to let go of the foetal surgeon. Taking a few minutes to calm the crying girl down with promises of phone calls and visits in the future, in the end, Ellis begrudgingly let go of Arizona.

Handing over Arizona's luggage, Arizona pulled Meredith into an embrace and gave her a quick peck on the cheek before she pulled away.

Blushing from the kiss, Meredith whispered into Arizona's ear, "remember to give me a call when you land."

"I will," Arizona replied. Right before she entered the gate, she turned towards Meredith and said, "see you later Mer."

Watching her friends leave, Meredith mutters under her breath, 'I'm in trouble, aren't I?'


	8. AN

**A/N Hello to all my readers! Sorry that this isn't an update, I've been quite busy with projects and work (still studying in real life) so I haven't been able to write anything unfortunately. But don't worry, I will eventually get back to writing and I will finish this story no matter what (I've already finished a story plan all the way up to chapter 17 and I'll just need to take time out of my schedule to turn them into actual chapters). Thanks for reading this and thanks to every single one of my readers, hopefully you'll continue enjoying this story.**


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